Sleepwalking
by DeathEzio
Summary: Ryou is living inside his worst nightmare in which he meets two sides of Yami Bakura. Rated T but there is a few violent scenes throughout but not too bad. I suck at rating stories...I also suck at picking genre...
1. Chapter 1: Shadows Start To Sing

_A/N: My first fic in a while. Sorry, I've been lagging, too much anime has taken over. But anyways, hope you enjoy xD_

_Disclaimer: Still own nothing..._

_In case of any confusion...Yami/Spirit refers to the evil side of Yami Bakura while Bakura refers to just normal good lovable Yami Bakura. And well Ryou is Ryou._

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><p>Nothing could be seen by his innocent eyes but darkness. Pure black surrounded him as he was being pulled down into the shadows. With a thud, he hit the bottom and choked for air as he felt the wind leave his body. His eyes scanned the area and he began to panic. Dark, nothing but pure nightfall engulfed him. And his ears took in nothing but the sound of his heavy gasps and the dense beating of his heart.<p>

He let out a yelp of anxiety and shuffled backwards until he felt something against his back. It felt cold and solid, a wall perhaps? He didn't want to look. All he knew was that he was lost somewhere deep within his worst nightmares…and he didn't know how to escape.

As he shivered with fear, his body suddenly became heavy, as if gravity was working against his will. He looked up to see two piercing brown eyes watching him and starring straight into his soul.

It was _Him_. The one who carved his nightmare deeper than it already was. The one who banished his chance at friendship and trust. The one who took his life and sealed it behind a curse.

Ryou stood up and watched as the eyes disappeared. A sudden gust of sub-zero winds swarmed around him and revealed the core of his nightmares. So many reminders of visions he never wanted to see or feel again, they attacked his mind and left him weak.

The eyes appeared again and gawked down on him. Ryou was out of breath, out of his mind. He couldn't take it. He wanted to scream as loud as he could. He wanted to escape and just wake up.

His instincts told him to run, so he sprinted and didn't take a look back. But he didn't need to look back in order to find that he wasn't getting anywhere. In fact, if it was possible to run deeper into the darkness that was exactly what he was doing. But he didn't seem to care, he just kept going and didn't hesitate on one step he took. It was then when he felt himself sink right in his footsteps.

He panicked as the ground consumed him and shot him out onto a floor, as if it spawned him to another area.

Crying in panic, he dared to open his eyes and saw that the visions had faded and left him surrounded by the shadows. He forced himself up from the floor and studied the area.

* * *

><p>Purple clouds roamed around like fog all over the floor. Vague silhouettes scattered and disappeared and the smell of foulness lingered within the air.<p>

A low rumble echoed throughout the air, and following it was a hysterical laugh. The sound sent a cold spike up Ryou's spine. It was no doubt whose laugh that was. He had heard it dozens of times before.

He took a few cautious steps forward, and a tunnel appeared and pulled him in its depths. Once inside, a dim light was seen from the very depths of the tunnel. The boy hesitated but forced himself to run towards it.

He was getting closer and closer, until something appeared right in his face. No, not something, but someone. Ryou fell back in terror.

"Hello boy"

Ryou skittered back and tried to run, but the gravity around him stopped him from getting anywhere.

"Please, do you honestly think you can run? There's nowhere to run when you run from yourself." The figure pulled the boy's face close to his. And within the dim light, Ryou was able to see him.

"Bak-"

"Shhh." The man put a finger to the boy's lips. "Here I am known as the shadows themselves. And here, there is no limit to my power. As for you, you have nowhere to run anymore, because I am you."

Ryou glared a look of anger and wrestled to an escape. But the spirit appeared before him again.

"Ahahaha, the boy thinks he can escape himself. There is nowhere to go in this nightmare you've fashioned. I must say, you do a great job at decorating." The spirit swiped his hand through the air to reveal ghastly figures and tormented souls.

Ryou exhaled aggressively. "What are you talking about? I didn't make any of this."

The spirit chuckled. "Oh but you did. All those times you've cried yourself to sleep after spilling out your anger to me. All the times you wished me gone and all the times you attempted to rid yourself of the Ring."

"This beautiful world of shadows is all thanks to you!" The spirit shouted in the boy's face hysterically.

Ryou took a few steps back in horror. He tripped over himself and was consumed by the floor once again.

* * *

><p>Despite landing hard on his back, he darted up and ran until he realized his surroundings.<p>

That's when the real image fell into place.

Spirits of the damned swerved all around, watching him and feeding off the infernos that the ground had to offer. Ghosts ventured all around the dim haze of the thick fog that swallowed the whole area. Fires of blues and purples erupted from the rust-red ground that was covered in cracks and chisels that spat out geysers of smoke every second. But the worst image that his innocent eyes witnessed was the army of phantoms the lay over the horizon.

If such a thing as hell existed, Ryou had no doubt that this was it. A blood-red ocean of lava and damnation swallowed every last one of them as they all fell against their will.

His breath faltered. "What the hell is happening to me?"

"You're being eaten away by your own hatred hikari."

"Don't call me that! You are not allowed to call me that you bastard!" Ryou snapped.

"Oh I'm not? You don't seem to mind that name any other time it's given to you."

"You're not Bakura…You are not me…Shut up already and let me go!" Ryou let out a few breaths of desperation.

The Spirit laughed hysterically. "You think I'm just gonna let you go. It's not that easy mortal. You must pass the Ring's test."

Ryou glared at him with fearful eyes.

The Spirit smirked and with a flick of a finger, Ryou was consumed by a fiery field of despair. Souls of the damned reached out to grab him, screams of terror overrode his ears. Even the very ground seemed to be waiting to eat him.

His body wouldn't move, it couldn't move. His mind was completely eaten by insanity.

He fell to his knees. Wherever his eyes roamed, they met nothing but desolation. He shut them in frustration and collapsed onto the ground. Tears left his eyes as screams of dread left his mouth.

"Save me!"

The psychotic laughs came back. "No one can save you from yourself mortal. You are in your own nightmare!"

The Spirit appeared out of the flames with shadows entangled around his body. His face still held the same psychotic expression but this time his eyes gleamed with deep red. "The Ring shall test you my boy! This is where the shadows start to sing. Now make your move, will you stay or will you go!"

Ryou sat up crying in terror. He couldn't focus his mind but all he knew was that this was a dream. He just needed to surpass his mind and awake his eyes.

He forced his eyes to meet the Spirit's eyes. As he came closer, the hellish atmosphere began to fade.

"Face your fear, give into the shadows. Let your dark side guide you and you'll never be afraid!" He spoke in a raspy tone.

"You're not me! I will never be anything like you." Ryou cried out.

"But here I am right now. Is that not proof?" The spirit leered over the boy and lifted him up by the neck. "Hahaha, I think you need a lesson boy. One cannot deny their own truth."

Ryou glared into the spirits eyes. They gleamed with pure evil along with his face of insanity.

The spirit smirked, and with a swipe of his hand, everything was once again consumed in pure darkness.

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><p>Ryou was alone. His body felt like it was smothering him. He attempted to move but he was frozen in terror. The shadows were consuming him. Dozens of memories overrode his mind, filling him with both fear and anger. He needed to wake up but the darkness was settling in. The more he thought about his resentments, the more it sucked him in.<p>

A few whimpers of anger left his mouth.

"Are you quite finished?"

Ryou looked up and saw the spirit again. "W…what do you want from me?"

"I believe the real question here is what do you want? You want to escape right? You want to be free and relieved of this darkness." The spirit sprang a vile smirk. In his hands lie the Millennium Ring. "The Ring…An item of delicacy and purity. It found its way into the hands of a young boy who didn't know any better."

Ryou stood frozen in anger. He wanted to attack the spirit, but how?

"You wish to fight me. How about I show you a vision of your innermost desire." The spirit waved his hand and another image appeared.

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><p>It was the spirit. He was beat and restricted to the chains around his wrist. A dark figure stood over him with a knife in his hands.<p>

"Now it is my turn" The figure said in a vengeful whisper that echoed throughout the area. It took only a second for Ryou to realize that the figure was him. Although the only visible part of the shadowy figure was his eyes, they were the same innocent chocolate eyes of his, but filled with rage, resentment, and hatred.

He raised the knife to the spirit's chin.

* * *

><p>"No!" Ryou manage to yell. The image was so abrupt by the scene that it felt real.<p>

"No? Why not?" The spirit alleged.

"You are not me…You are not Bakura. I don't know who you are or why you're saying all these things but you are not me. So just stop it. Shut up and let me go!" Ryou yelled with full might. He snatched the Ring from the spirit's hands and aimed it at his face.

"You do not understand mortal. You created me, therefore you are me."

"Shut up! Enough of these games. If I created you then I'll destroy you!" Ryou kept the Ring to the spirits face.

The spirit put up his hands in defeat and chuckled. "Well I guess that's it then. Destroy me. But I'll always come back. The shadows never die."

Ryou lowered the Ring for a second in confusion. And suddenly everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2: Peace Of Mind

_A/N: I am a little indecisive to how this chapter played out at the end, so there might be changes within the next few days. Either way, Ch. 3 shall be coming within the next few days._

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><p>A gust of coldness swept passed him. He cringed his fingers and felt the cold, dusty surface of the ground. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he found that he was in a cave. Yami Bakura was nowhere to be seen and the hellish atmosphere was lost behind the peaceful solitude of the cave.<br>He forced himself to a stand and walk along the walls toward a dim hue of white that appeared at the end.

"An exit?" He thought.

He let himself pass through the white field and found himself in a room. It was unlike anything he had seen before. Stairs cascaded along the walls in all sorts of directions, defying physics in all ways possible. It reminded him of a painting he had seen before, just a bunch of doorways scattered everywhere without a sense of symmetry.

"Where am-" Before he could finish, a sound of a doorknob turning provoked him.

He turned but saw no trace of anything or anyone. But a strong pull of instinct told him to approach the stairway that he was facing.

With hesitation, he forced his feet to lead him forward. Once in its reach, the doorknob clicked and the door opened. Ryou tensed in shock and stared into the dark room that lay behind the door. But with a breath, he pushed himself within its depths.

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><p>Once inside, the room faltered and changed to a completely different image.<p>

The ground became lined with tiles of sandstone bricks, paving the way toward a set of three step stairs that led to a throne. Smooth pillars lined up from the stairs on both sides, paving a midway down to the door that now became a huge set of twenty-feet. Even the walls were lined with century old paintings, each with a different emotional feel to it.

Ryou kept put as the image continued to settle in. He knew well what this type of architecture was.

After the goblets of torches lined along with the pillars had lit with a blue fire, and the doors behind came to a close, Ryou proceeded to walk forward.

His eyes stayed pasted to the throne. Was someone going to appear sitting there once he reached the stairs? If so, then who, the Pharaoh? Bakura? Or maybe some crazy God who wanted to bring him even more madness.

He let his foot fall over the first step. With a glance, he studied the throne and saw nothing but the hieroglyphs that decorated it. He let himself step over the rest of the stairs and stood in front of it.

"No need to be scared."

Ryou tensed as he heard the astray voice. The throne was still empty and no one else seemed to be in the room.

"I am inside of you, only as a fragment of my full form." The voice called.

Ryou lifted his hand to his chest, taking hold of the item that had just appeared within his grasp.

Had the Ring been there the whole time? He couldn't remember honestly. But now his fingers grasped to its presence.

"Bakura?" He called out.

The ring shimmered and a faded image appeared in front of him. It took a few seconds before it took form.

"Hello hikari."

Ryou studied his Yami's features. They seemed calm and subtle, like the Bakura he saw every morning when he would wake up. But he couldn't help but feel that this was the same guy that had just tormented him only moments ago.

"Who are you?" Ryou let out.

"I am Bakura, the side of you that is pure."

Confusion swept over Ryou. "I don't understand..."

Bakura lifted a hand to Ryou's chin. "There's no need to understand, you're safe now."

Ryou looked around at the surroundings. "Then where are we? Why am I here?"

"This is your Temple of Peace. It lies deep within your thoughts. You may not know it but you've constructed this with your own will power." Bakura stated. He studied the architecture as if he had never seen Egyptian buildings before. "So much beauty...You have a very powerful sense of creativity."

Ryou kept a stern look as if not trusting the Yami. "What do you mean I created this? I don't understand."

Bakura let out a chuckle. A sound that had always reassured the boy that his Yami was no harm.

"You have created many things within your dreams. But it all depends on emotion. Of course, back when I wasn't fond of you, you hated me with pure vexation. That was the hell you witnessed. However...As I became soft, you became calm. That's when this happened."

Bakura swiped his hand along the air and the room altered.

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><p>A crystal blue sky appeared above their heads. Ryou relaxed as he felt warm air caressing his skin.<p>

"This is what you've brought within yourself." Bakura stated as he waved a hand across the horizon.

Thick forests of trees lay under giant mountains of blue and purple. A crystal clear river found its way across the forest, bringing a sense of prosperity.

"It's like...a painting." Ryou added.

Bakura sneered. "Yes but only this is the real deal. This is your home of solitude. This is where you reside when you start your biggest ideas. This is your Peace of Mind."

"Peace of mind?" Ryou asked.

"Yes. This is where your mind lurks when you are at peace and when you wish to be lost in thought. Your greatest ideas lie here, and this is where you dream them into reality. The hell, the Temple of Peace...this is where it started."

Ryou couldn't believe his eyes. Was he really the one who created all this? He couldn't imagine it. Yet here he was, standing in the face of his creation.

"So...I created everything that you've shown me. That hell, the temple, and this."

Bakura nodded.

"Does that mean I also created you? Your good self and your evil self?"

Bakura kept his eyes to the horizon. "If you believe so then yes."

Ryou nodded reluctantly. "No. I want the answer. When I met your other side, you told me that you were me and that I created you. You told me that I couldn't run from myself, and that's what I don't understand."

"My evil self can be rather annoying cant he? But he's right…You are me, and I am you. It's the thought that bothers you right?" Bakura asked.

Ryou nodded. "But you're Bakura, the spirit from Ancient Egypt. How can you be me?"

Bakura smiled. "Let me show you something Ryou."

Bakura took a hold of Ryou's hand and with a swift movement of his fingers, they teleported to a new area. It was the cave again, where Ryou had started off. Bakura waved his hands and the cave expanded into a large tunnel.

"Follow me."

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><p>Ryou stayed at the side of the Yami as they walked. "Where are we going?"<p>

"You'll see. Soon, the images will appear." Bakura responded.

Ryou didn't understand what that meant, but as he walked, he felt the air grow cold and the lighting of the cave turned dim with red.

"This is where you and I, grow from the same thread." Bakura stated.

Images started appearing on the walls of the caves. Ryou looked to his left and saw people, all running away in horror. They looked ancient, their style was definitely Egyptian. But they looked more like criminals rather than regular citizens.

'Thieves' He thought.

At the corner of his eye, Ryou noticed a little boy with dusk white hair. He was crouching behind a broken wall and in his hand was a sword, but it didn't look like he knew how to use it.

The scene continued. More people scattered and they seemed to be fighting with…what were they, guards? Ryou guessed as they were dressed more elegantly.

Weapons went clashing and arrows flew from the air and impaled whatever was in their trajectory. Fires started to go off around people's homes and violence spread as fast as the fire.

For a brief moment, the scene faded and came back in sight. What Ryou saw, was devastating.

All the people he had just seen were now lying on the ground. Weapons, fires, and bloodlust scattered throughout. He noted something that moved slowly amongst the chaos. It was the little boy.

"That's..." Ryou didn't finish.

Bakura put a hand to Ryou's shoulder. "I lost everything that day. My childhood was stripped from me in no longer than a mere second."

Ryou put a look of empathy on his face. "If this wall shows your past then what does the other one..."

He slowly faced the other wall. And in less than a minute, he witnessed everything that he had tried to forget about dozens of times before.

He had lost his childhood the day that his mother never came back. His father constantly left and never showed one hint of affection for his son. Then there was the memories of his first encounter with the Ring. His life fell into an even deeper hell. He lost friends to the shadow games and was forced to become isolated. All the times he was hurt and restricted of being in control of his own body.

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><p>He would've let himself fall to the floor and sob if Bakura hadn't wrapped his arms around him and block his view of the images. At least now Bakura was understanding and cared for him. If not for him, Ryou would have no one to turn to.<p>

"You and I both lost everything. We both come from the same roots of despair. When you first met me, you questioned why the ring fell into your possession. You hated everything. At the same time, I didn't understand you. I treated you with disgust and I hurt you. But then I began to realize what you had been hiding."

Ryou clung onto his Yami, burying his head onto his chest in attempt to hold back the tears. In return, Bakura stroked his hand and caressed the boy's hair.

"So tell me Ryou. Are we the same?"

Ryou didn't answer. He let himself enjoy the moment. After being tormented to the brink of madness, he felt safer than ever within the arms of his Yami.

A thought came back to his mind, and he lifted his head to face Bakura. "Kura…"

"Yes Ryou?"

"Your evil side…He told me that the Ring was testing me…What did he mean?"

Bakura grasped the Ring from Ryou's chest.

He suddenly felt a dark presence and his eyes were able to see that the image of the cave flickered.

He turned around to see another Bakura, but this one held an insane smile along with piercing eyes.

"No! Go away!" Ryou managed to blurt out.

"Aw how cute. You're hiding behind your peaceful state. However, that can be fixed." The Yami instantly appeared behind Ryou and Bakura.

"Ryou stand back!" Bakura shoved him back.

Ryou watched as the two parts of his Yami engaged in a stare down with each other before attacking.

Ryou hoped that his good side would win. But the damn insane Yami only needed one flick of a finger to make the good Bakura instantly disappear.

The Yami glanced over at Ryou with a vile smirk that made him feel uneasy.

"Now then, shall we continue where we left off?"


End file.
